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What does "Flexible Editorial Design" mean?

Editorial Design?

"Editorial Design refers to the lay outing of magazines, newspapers, brochures and books."

"Editorial Design is tightly linked to publishing work and, as such, will be executed in close coordination with journalists, photographers and illustrators."
In addition to the cover design Editorial Design also encompasses the development of a design framework for the content as well as the visual conception of complete editions."

Aptly terms such as print or paper are not even used here as the above applies equally well to electronic media.

Why does Editorial Design for mobile devices have to be „flexible”?

There’s a simple reason.
There exist literally thousands of combinations of size, aspect ratio and resolution of the build-in screens.
Such variability makes it practically impossible to come up with an optimal layout for each variant.

The solution is to be found in a combination of manual work and use of software.

First the designers, editors and photographers jointly draft layouts in differing sizes.
The software subsequently dynamically compensates for minor deviations in screen-size and aspect ratio.
Even problems stemming from different screen resolutions will be solved by the software.

Evolution of a digital magazine.

Requirement

Initially there’s always an electronic document.
Typically created with DTP-software such as InDesign or QuarkXPress.
Up to here, no different from print-publishing.

Adjustment

Further layouts will then be developed from the basis-layout by the Editorial Designer.
The number of these derived layouts depends on the range of user-devices to be catered to.
With just four variants one already achieves an impressive degree of flexibility.

Getting it out to the Reader

Everything else will now be taken care of by the software.
One software component turns the extended document into HTML-pages.
After publication on a web-server, another piece of the software always delivers the exact page that fits the user-device.

Now the reader always gets a perfectly designed magazine.
No matter what device he uses: tablet, smartphone or PC.

Costs

Multiple layouts

These costs of course depend on the size, content and quality of a product.
The Editorial Designer’s experience also has an effect on costs. Here lies also the biggest cost-saving potential.
Current DTP-software supports multiple layouts very effectively.
This feature isn’t much used in the print-setting. It can and, in fact, should be taught, in a focused seminar (webinar) in order to maximize effectiveness.

Initially, offering a heretofore print-only product as a digital product in addition, will just about double the design-effort.
For purely digital products the design-costs can be reckoned to be about 150 – 200 percent of a print-product.

Processing for the Web

Here the costs depend primarily on a publication‘s size, but will be in the 50-180 Euro ($60-$220) range.

Hosting a Publication

The costs are comparable to those incurred by the hosting of a regular web-site.
The choice of provider/hoster is the decisive one here. Even free hosting is possible.

About this Site

Just like good “Editorial Design” is always the result of team-work, this site is the product of several people.
Together we want to transfer knowledge about the design of print-media to the digital world.

Initiated by Peter Loebel, it quickly became evident that input from many parties was needed.
Hence, prior to “Flexible Editorial Design” ever seeing the light of day, finding like-minded folks was the order of the day.
In the end, it took four months from “setting the cornerstone” to completion of this site.
It looks like we’re moving forward.

People willing to join the cause are very welcome.

Of course “Flexible Editorial Design” is not the only way to publish high-quality publications on mobile devices.
Hence we happily inform you about alternatives.

You reach Peter Loebel per e-mail loebel@2pl.com or phone (+49-157-751-63847).